Robert Mills, the Architect

Robert Mills was born in Charleston, South Carolina
in 1781 to a well-established Scottish family that had
settled there in 1770. He was one of six children and
was probably influenced toward architecture by his
uncle, Thomas Mills of Dundee, Scotland. Mills is
believed to be the first native-born American architect
trained for the profession. Mills began his formal
training as a draftsman working on the Capitol building
in Washington, D.C. under the direction of James Hoban.

In 1803, Mills was invited to assist Thomas Jefferson in
the design of Monticello. He stayed for two years and
developed a close friendship with Jefferson. Mills and
Jefferson studied Palladian architecture and Mills
observed how Jefferson designed and built the first
American neoclassical dome over Monticello. He would
later marry and live in Philadelphia, Baltimore and
Charleston before finally settling in Washington, D.C.

Robert Mills was only 30 years old when he was
commissioned to draw plans for the Monumental Church in
Richmond, Virginia. The structure was to be both a
monument and a house of worship. The site chosen was
that of the disastrous
Richmond Theater fire of December
26, 1811. Seventy-two of the most prominent citizens of
Richmond died in the fire including the city’s mayor and
the governor of the Commonwealth. Mills was married to
the daughter of former Governor John Smith who died in
the fire. “Their collective ashes were gathered into a
common brick crypt constructed over the former theater
site. Today, the church is empty and unused, but the
brick crypt remains undisturbed in the basement. The
church is owned by the Historic Richmond Foundation and
is slowly being restored. A restored church “would be a
fitting tribute to Robert Mills, the young, resourceful
architect, who found a way - despite wartime attitudes
and chronic under-financing - to build this unique
monument almost two centuries ago.”

In 1836, President Andrew Jackson appointed Mills as the
Federal Architect and Engineer, a role he kept for the
next 16 years. More than fifty important works were of
his design and a large number survive to the present.
During his time in Washington, he directed the design
and construction of the U.S. Treasury Building, the U.S.
Patent Office and the Old Post Office. Although he
designed churches, prisons, and houses, he is most
remembered for his monuments. His most renowned
project was the
Washington Monument in
Washington, D.C. “The vast
obelisk in Washington, long the highest of human
structures, was his conception in which the simplicity
and grandeur of the forms are matched with the character
of the subject.”

The Washington Monument today draws more than two
million visitors a year and took nearly a century of
planning, building and controversy. Work on the monument
started in 1848 but because of political squabbling and
a shortage of money the monument was not completed until
1884 and not opened to the public until 1888. The
tapered shaft, faced with white marble rises 555 ft.
from walls that are 15 ft. thick at the base. It is
believed to be the largest masonry structure in the
world. Robert Mills died in 1855 and is buried in the
Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

The June Steele Museum Collection

In February 12, 2005, the recently purchased June
Steele Collection will be shown for the very first time.
The meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m. in Heritage Hall at
the Scottish Home. Light refreshments will be served and
voluntary donations will be accepted.

The collection centers around some of the personal
papers of Major George Mason. George Mason was a member
of the Illinois St. Andrew Society and volunteered for
service in the 12th Illinois Infantry where he served
with his uncle, General John McArthur. The General was
president of our Society from 1869-1871. Mason
participated in battles and skirmishes at Donnelson,
Shiloh, Corinth, Iuka, Second Battle of Corinth,
Pulaski, Richland Creek and the Atlanta Campaign. He was
often cited for “gallant and meritorious conduct during
the war.”

The most valuable part of the collection consists of
his officer’s sword which he carried at the Battle of
Shiloh. In this battle his horse was killed and Mason
suffered injuries as a result of the fall. In addition
to the sword, there are newspaper articles, pictures and
numerous letters written back and forth between Scotland
and America in the 1840's. One interesting story
involves Mason’s graduation from the University of
Michigan seventy-two years after the Civil War began.

As a child, George Mason was acquainted with the last
surviving member of the Boston Tea Party,
David Kennison. You will hear this story as given by George
Mason to Robert Collyer Fergus in 1921 and you will be
surprised where David Kennison is buried. All of the
materials will be displayed and part of the program will
be a PowerPoint presentation. Everyone is invited to
attend this special event and express appreciation to
June Steele for her purchase of this valuable
collection. If you are a new member of the Society and
have yet to visit the Scottish Home this would be a good
opportunity. Reservations will be accepted by calling
the Society office at 708.447.5092 x357. Those reserving
in advance will receive a notebook with copies of some
of the material.

Pictured first: George Mason
Pictured second: David Kennison

More information can be found at Northwestern
University,
Hidden Truths

James Millikin And His University

James Drury in his book
Old Illinois Houses, writes
about James Millikin and his house in Decatur, Illinois.
“He was born of Scotch Presbyterian parents at Clarkstown (now Ten Miles), Pennsylvania, on August 2,
1817. His father was a farmer.” When he was a young man
James and a neighbor boy drove a herd of steers to New
York City and down Broadway. He graduated from
Washington College in Washington, PA. In 1849, Millikin
and his father drove a flock of sheep to Indiana and the
next year, young Millikin drove another flock west, this
time to Danville, Illinois. He stayed in Danville and
continued in the livestock business. At the Illinois
State Fair in 1857, he won six medals and has been
called the “first cattle king of the Prairie State.” At
one time, he had 10,000 sheep grazing over a radius of
20 miles.

James Millikin came to Decatur in 1856 after selling his
land and his livestock holdings. The town of Bement,
Illinois stands on land once owned by Millikin. On
January 1, 1857, he married Anna Bernice Aston, daughter
of Samuel M. Aston who was pastor of the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church in Mount Zion, Illinois. In 1860, he
entered the banking business and was then one of the
wealthiest
men in Decatur. Sixteen years later, he and
Anna built their residence at Main and Pine Streets. The
house is two and a half stories high and built of red
brick. Millikin died in his home in 1909 and his widow
occupied the residence until her own death July 29,
1913. “In her will she provided for use of the mansion
as a museum of art.” The Millikin’s were very private
people and few were ever allowed inside their home.
“Faculty parties and teas were held at the home, but
always outside on the lawn. If it began to rain,
everyone would go home.”

When James Millikin was twenty years old, he decided
that if he ever became wealthy, he would build an
institution of learning where all classes of young
people could secure an education, regardless of what
occupation they might choose. He followed his dream and
offered the City of Decatur a large tract of land know
as Oakland Park and $200,000 for a school. Millikin was
then approached by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
of which he was a member, to affiliate the school with
the church. He agreed to do so if the school would not
be “narrowly sectarian.”

On June 4, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt delivered
the dedicatory address of the new James
Millikin
University and on September 15, 1903, classes began with
562 students. The present enrollment is approximately
2,400 students “of all classes, creed, or sect living
the dream of its founder, James Millikin.”

Elgin, Illinois

James
Talcott Gifford founded Elgin, Illinois in 1835 naming it
after his favorite Scottish hymn, Elgin. Elgin is
actually pronounced with a hard ‘g’ sound - El-gin. The
Scots were early settlers in Elgin and the surrounding
area. Driven by the need to secure jobs as automation
had taken their looming jobs away in Scotland, the great
immigration to American began about 1838. Here are a few
of their stories.

Jane Crichton Archibald, oldest daughter of the 13
children of the John Crichton family, survived a six-week-long, horrible trip on the sailboat
Harmonia in
1848. She and her second husband, Abram Archibald (her
first husband was killed in a coal mining accident in
Scotland) purchased a 160-acre farm near the Fox River.
Later they purchased 113 more acres. In the old
directories, Jane Archibald is the only woman listed as
a farmer.

Elgin’s oldest Scottish bard (poet) T. Park Brown was
born in Strichen, Scotland, He was schooled in watch
making and clock repair, working in some of the old
castles in Scotland. After marrying Jessie Strachan in
1882, they sailed for America. Mr. Brown found
employment at the Elgin National Watch Factory. Two of
his books of poetry are entitled “Fox River Valley and
Other Verse” and “Illinois Incidents and Other Verse.”
In both, he speaks of the lovely valley, parks, rivers
and creeks of the area. Mr. Brown was curator of the
Audubon Museum in Lord’s Park and constructed the first
rock gardens in Elgin. He engraved the poetry of Robert
Burns on some of the rocks. Anna McNeil Todd was a born merchandiser, urging her
husband, James Todd, to turn his interests from farming
to selling. In 1858 along with the McNeil brothers, they
erected a frame store building on the Southwest corner
of Chicago Street, which is currently known as Grove
Avenue. This grocery store was a huge success and later
was moved to Chicago as the wholesale grocer firm of
McNeil and Higgins. One of Anna’s visions was her
insistence upon the need for trained buyers and trained
sales staff, which was a new approach. Mr. Marshall
Field liked her work so well that, when she came to
Chicago by train, he would pick her up in his carriage
or send his groom to fetch her and bring her to his
store, then known as Field and Leiter.”

David
Barclay was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and immigrated
to America in 1842, settling first in Waukegan,
Illinois, but moving to Elgin in 1851. Mr. Barclay
became the first foreign-born mayor of Elgin and served
a total of four terms. Among his numerous notable
achievements were the following: he served as the City
Fire Chief, President of the Board of Trustees of the
Illinois Asylum for ten years, President of the First
National Bank of Elgin for six years, and he saved the
City of Elgin from failure after the ‘Panic of 1873.’ He
was also the inventor of the first milk can designed to
ship milk to Chicago.”

The Elgin Burns Caledonian Club celebrated the
birthday of Robert Burns with an annual dinner dance. In
1904 it was re-established as the Elgin Scottish
Society, which continues the dinner dances in honor of
Robert Burns.

The above material was written by Candice K. Meyer
who is a member of the Elgin Scottish Society and the
Illinois Saint Andrew Society.

Pictured first: James T. Gifford
Pictured second: James T. Gifford Home about 1870

A Prayer for the Scottish Home

God and Father of us all, we thank Thee that Thou
hath chosen us to carry on the worthy purposes of our
Saint Andrew Society. We are grateful for all those who
through the years preserved the spirit of Saint Andrew
in their ever-deepened concern for the elderly through
the building and maintenance of our Home. Grant us
vision beyond the range of worldly prudence, and by Thy
wisdom make us wise, lest all our planning be futile and
we should then fail both Thee and these children of
Thine. May we always have the courage to undertake and
do what must be done. Hush all spirit of contention and
make us ever mindful of one another and of Thee. We
would remember with love all those who have found peace
and comfort in their sunset years in the Scottish Home.
May their song of faith never die in our hearts. This is
our prayer in the name of the Christ, our Lord.

Prayer by Dr. James Currie McLeodPast President of the Illinois Saint Andrew
Society1973-1974